Life of a Dog

I wrote this in 1994 about our dog 

 Life of a Dog

The birds are free, up in the sky, with

the wind blowing through their wings

searching for a place to navigate by

or just to enjoy the feeling

of freedom

Ebbing, falling, they rise on air, currents which rise

and fall, relaxing within the safety of those hands


Behind the glass wall, the prison doors, designed to protect and keep safe

behind the four walls

reaching out, trying to reach the freedom of the grass

Nothing I can do

Nothing that I can do will help me reach it on my own

The scent of something is in the air, drawing my nose and body

what is it ?

I try to hear, to sniff it out, to find where it is

and the scent has gone...


no garden to run in, no butterflies to catch, no stick, or ball to chase and catch

no water to drink or splash, or mud to roll in

only a human to follow

no one hears me when I speak, or can feel what I feel

When I want to run, the leash holds me back

snares me to another,

a slave who cannot leave


I can smell the way home, seeming paths of colour across the route, mine and others,

why the human chooses other routes when I can see and smell mine ?


Im tired now, and hungry

food, sleep

chasing rabbits in dreams


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